my weekly race log

I have a bad back (caused by some DIY yesterday to try and solve my bike storage problems) and am starting to go down with the same cold that my daughter is suffering from. I'm entered for a 25-mile time trial (starting in less than two hours' time) which I really shouldn't do. I went out and rode 4 miles earlier to see if I was in any kind of shape to do it, and I didn't feel incapable of doing it, so I've decided to go ahead. Whether I still feel like that after more than an hour crouched over tri-bars pushing it as hard as I can remains to be seen. Probably a mistake...

Get out there and kill it young man!

...I'm feeling pretty rough now, but dosed up on paracetamol I managed to do it. This was on a similar course to the one a fortnight ago: about 15 miles of it overlaps with that course, but it starts and finishes about 4 miles further north and has a couple of extra loops. There wasn't much of a wind this time and it seemed to be coming from the north (so good for the return leg). I got to the turn with an average speed of 22.6mph which was bang on target for my existing PB. However, I was flagging a bit on the return leg - either the wind wasn't as strong or wasn't in the direction I'd thought, or my body was telling me it really shouldn't be racing. I finished in 1-6-50 (22.4mph), my second fastest time and 17 seconds faster than I managed in the same event last year.

2 criterium races in downtown O@kl@nd today:

1st race was open to all ages which means they stick the juniors in with us. This is sad to say but I was DOMINATED in the sprint by a 14 year old boy. That just sucks to write no matter how you try to paint it. Now, I will concede that he is rated #1 in the nation for 15 and under but it still was humiliating. He's taller than me I think (I'm 6'2"), watch out for this kid. I tried to "turn the screw" and just lay down the gas pedal for the last 3 laps but I was not able to shed the sprinters. I took 3rd. The race for 2-3-4 was really close, like two feet. But I got on the podium which was my goal: to podium in all the major bay area (SF, Berkeley and Oak) downtown crits.

2nd race was open to my age group (lol u old) but this is also the biggest field of the day so don't even trip. the pace is a little faster 25mph over a technical course (hourglass shape, 8 corners including one chicane into a sharp near hairpin). I found myself at the front after the last prime of the race and the pace slowed before one of the two inclines on the course so I just carried my momentum up and over and checked and I had a surprisingly hueg gap. 4 laps to go so I'm committed to the win so I just bury myself (95% of max HR for ~8 minutes) and try to hang on. The last couple laps are torture. Gasping for air, legs burning with lactic acid, struggling to stay aero and keep the speed up.

2 laps to go:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqOEHBD8aOk

Finish:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOlutRJeEXk

I am ready to fall asleep now tbh, but it was great to just get out there and ~ride~.

so sexy

greatness

chapeau sir!

TIME TO UPGRADE!

you cant get points from a masters race, can you?

maybe not at your age, but at my age you can. ;-)

california lol

usacycling.org /= california iirc

READ YOUR RULEBOOK

dude, colorado left usacycling years ago, its a socialist ponzi scheme

(i did look at aca's rulebook and policybook, they are silent on this issue afaict at a glance)

the only races that i know of that do not count toward upgrade points are TTs (non mass-start) and Hill Climbs that are less than [x] miles long (I think where x=10 miles for 4/5s and 15 miles for 1/2/3s).

age group sub-categorization like juniors, u23, elite, masters (35,45,55) is extremely common in all races i've been involved in.

Q: what is colorado's governing body of pro-am cycling? i meant to ask but forgotteth.

just amateur- american cycling association, formerly bicycle racing assoc of colorado (brac). brac was the regional arm of the feds, but the feds pulled some bs on the staff here and broke away. last i heard reunification was the plan.

(that is, brac broke with usacycling obv)

Final race of the season (apart from my club's hill climb championship in November) this morning, yet another 25-mile time trial. The prospects didn't look good: it was pouring with rain last night and supposed to continue with more of the same today, plus (same as last time) I had a mild cold. However, I decided to go ahead with it and was glad I did as the race took place in a rare window without rain. Lots of other people didn't fancy it, though: more than 20 out of 55 didn't even start.

There was a strong wind from the south and this course basically goes south-to-north for 12.3 miles, then north-to-south for 12.7 miles. I was flying on the outbound leg, averaging 26.6mph as I went through the first village after just under 3 miles. I was startled to be caught and passed by my minute man at this point: I've since calculated he was averaging 31.6mph at this point. He went on to win the event comfortably by about 3 minutes with a time of 54-something.

I got to the roundabout for the turn with an average speed of 26.2mph - far in excess of anything I could realistically expect to achieve (my PB for this distance is about 22.7mph). As I turned at the roundabout it was like hitting a brick wall. I couldn't believe how difficult it was. I couldn't get any kind of rhythm going and just struggled to keep going. At one point I had to abandon the tri-bars and go onto the hoods, get out of the saddle, and kick to go at just 14mph, and this was on the flat! I eventually ground my way in with a time of 1:07:42, meaning my average speed for the return leg was just 19.3mph (nearly 7mph slower than the outbound leg!).

I wasn't very happy with that as it was a good minute-and-a-half slower than the PB I set on the same course just a few weeks ago, but when I got back to the HQ I found out that everyone had suffered. I ended up coming 3rd in the handicap competition, so it turns out that getting that close to your PB was some kind of achievement after all.

Chapeau. Headwinds are a bitch - 19mph sounds amazing considering (in string headwinds I tend to have a 16 on my speedometer even if I'm really pushing it).

The final, final race of the season this morning: my club's hill climb championship. Last year I got 2nd place (out of 11) with 2.52, well behind the winner who got 2.31. This year I closed the gap a bit and got 2nd again (this time out of 15) with 2.41 - the same guy won it again with a time of about 2.26. I'm really happy with that performance - I think I got it just right and did as well as I possibly could. I went hard right from the start, putting it in the big ring for the flatter sections, and just let adrenalin carry me up the final gruesome section while I gasped like a dying man.

DNF
DNF
DNF
DNF
DNF

Launched 600W on a false flat for ~60seconds trying to maim this fucking whippet who kept attacking on the rollers and ended up kamikazing myself to the point where I seized up on lap 5 of 6.

Whippet's attacks on every ascent on lap 1 shredded our field of 20 down to 10. My stupid attack pared it down to 7... I was the last to abandon. 6 finished. Teammate got 4th. Whippet 5th.

I need to exercize a teensy bit more patience and strategery in the future imho.

what sort of wattage were you putting out to keep up w/ the whippet??

I was around 220W for the ride, but lots of 0s on the descents. My interval training has been pretty absent. Need to get on that.

Remarkably, the attack was captured on film:
http://www.argentumimago.com/Sport/2011/CCCX2011RoadCircuit01/15652630_oZHFn/#1173006609_tRNqk

It was pouring rain btw.

good pain cave face!

I'm racing in my first real-deal Crit tomorrow: http://socalreg.com/schedule.asp?race=Red+Trolley

I've participated in club races which usually draw about 80 guys from teams all around town and usually go at a pretty fast pace (last one averaged 26mph for an hour) but this is the first one with a number and cash prizes and points up for grab.

I'm in the 4/5 field. Have been feeling really good on the bike lately, and set a PR up one of my benchmark climbs (torrey pines) without really even noticing I was trying so I am kind of hyped. BUT, the weather has been so damn nice here lately (San Diego) that I'm sure everybody else has also been riding like mad and is feeling equally strong. Excited and nervous and fully prepared for humiliation. Can't wait.

Also I bought a skinsuit from a teammate lol.

Won a sprint prime, blew up, rolled in with the field. So much fun.

were you wearing the skinsuit?? PROs are doing that in road races, sky riders in particular!

you shld read alexi grewal on the hazards of skinsuits in long road races lol.

http://alexigrewal.com/index.php/blog/104-the-skinsuit-aka-the-olympics-in-la#disqus_thread

I got it because I'm racing on the track this year, and my 2011 team kit hasn't come in yet, so I needed a current kit for thus weekend. Lots of dudes wore em in the crit.

they are v good for anything under 1.25 hr imo, used them all the time.

Love that article Huntr3, I wore my skinsuit for TTs (obvs), technical crits that suited my strengths (in case I could pull a solo breakaway), or for circuit races of 60-75mins.

Now that I'm getting my ass handed to me on a weekly basis, I will probably revert to wearing it only in TTs. Tailgunning in a skinsuit is NAGL imho.

my weekly race log: i DNF'd again. Have a long list of excuses but will just touch the sole highlight: I broke my previous PR of 195bpm with a 211bpm near-cardiac arrest effort to bridge up.

!! keep killing it shasta and slp.

I broke my previous PR of 195bpm with a 211bpm near-cardiac arrest effort to bridge up.

jaysus

Racing with the "pros" today, may the cycling gods have mercy on my legs. Zero expectations, I expect to be dropped at some point. Last time at this series 2 of the guys in the field attacked from the gun and shattered the field immediately. The winner (3 seasons as a European Continental pro, now on Verizon Wireless domestic squadra(?) is trying to get back over to Europe by winning all 5 races he's entered this season in California. He looks 15 but is barely U23 and can climb, sprint, solo, you name it:

http://www.velobios.com/riders.mountainkhaki2009.loader.htm

I'm waking up at 4:30 tomorrow to drive 1.5 hours to race a 25 minute crit in Brea, CA (I.e. featureless Orange county). I need to get out of the 5's

fortunately, crits do not require features, just corners, right? that's the shortest crit i've heard of. lay waste to opposition.

(this makes me remember my first race as a 5 in a rain/sleet mix in fruita, co- a 4+ hour drive each way, we stayed at a buddy's place in aspen the night before. on the positive, it was a 40 mi circuit race instead of a 25 min crit).

Took 4th in my race, the Cat5 30+ (they split cat 5s into two races, by age groups). I feel like I got the result as much from using my elbows (metaphorically, I didn't hit anybody...) as my legs. I guess that's crit racing though? Probably could have taken 2nd or 3rd if I timed the last part better, but the first place guy was a cut above. Still, super stoked.

What is Cat 5 - which country is this?

cat(egory) 5 --- entry level

in the US it goes up (well, down) to cat 1 and after that you're a PRO

just a way of stratifying ability

hence the "cat 6" thread --- cat6 = someone who doesn't race

shasta have you finished your post race glycogen recovery/massage/contrast bath? whahappen?

I SUCK SO HARD AND I HATE MY FUKKIN WEAK ASS FITNESS...

See you next Saturday.

are shasta and hunt3r having a showdown??

geography sez no, but lols shasta would shatter me into 100000000 pieces with such a quickness.

i was gonna make a lol old joek about you two and then i realized that you're both...masters

I have yet to race a Masters race this year fwiw.

The you in my previous post was directed at the corpse of my fitness past.